Natural medicines scatter Manitoba’s plains, forests and rivers — if a person knows where to look

Few activities bring Chickadee Richard the gratitude and comfort of gathering medicines on her family’s traditional harvesting grounds.

The Anishinaabe grandmother is a matriarch in her home community of Sandy Bay First Nation. It was there her grandfather taught Richard to gather medicine. Now 60 years old, she has carried that knowledge since she was a child.

"It’s a beautiful feeling to be out there on the land, knowing those medicines are still around," she said. "We speak to them just like we speak to (people). (Plants) have a spirit, and to us, we know that’s a relationship we’ve had since time immemorial."

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